


Snapshots of the In-Between

by ShhImWriting



Series: Droid23 Bonnie and Clyde AU [2]
Category: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid
Genre: But no use of them, Can you tell?, F/M, Fluff, I love this couple, I wrote something happy for once!!, Knives, Paul doesn't know how to stab people, Ted's still a bastard, There's some mildly flirtatious sparring, They're robbers and they're in love okay, Tom and Becky are more minor but they are precious, because I'm in love with that trope, bill is precious, hey look, mentions of guns, there's a camera involved, they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29906274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShhImWriting/pseuds/ShhImWriting
Summary: After managing to successfully escape a High-Stakes bank-robbery, Paul 23 and Emdroid (known as the most dangerous couple in the midwest) have a rare moment of peace with their team at a nearby safe house.
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Paul Matthews 23/Emma Perkins Android
Series: Droid23 Bonnie and Clyde AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2199051
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	Snapshots of the In-Between

**Author's Note:**

> Well then...once again, I lack self-control and couldn't leave this AU alone...so have some Droid23 Bonnie and Clyde fluff!!  
> I hope you enjoy it!!!

Emma smiled softly to herself as she opened her eyes, recognizing the feeling of her husband’s arms around her as she was welcomed into wakefulness.

Had she been someone who wasn’t always on the run with the love of her life, she would have expected this to be just a normal wonderful morning. Maybe she’d wake up softly, not worrying about waking up too early for her next shift at Beanies, enjoying a few more hours of just laying in bed, blissfully doing nothing while her husband slept peacefully beside her. But, it was a dirty business they were in, and such dirty business waited for no one.

She turned around softly so she could face her husband, who, contrary to her belief that he’d been sleeping, had his eyes slightly open, sleepily looking at her with a soft smile.

“Mornin’, baby,” she whispered, running her hands through his hair, “Sleep well?”

He sighed through his nose and smiled, nodding softly, “Besides worrying that the cops would find us again...yeah, I slept okay.”

She smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead, “You worry too much.”

“Well…” he smiled as he tightened his grip around her softly, pulling her closer to him, “I’ve got everything good right now. I’ve got reasons to want to keep it that way…”

She giggled and pressed a kiss to his nose, “You’re a goddamned sap...you know that, right?”

He sighed and smiled wider, “Well...when you’ve got a wife as amazing as I do, you can’t help it.”

She sighed and nestled closer into his embrace, relishing in the warmth and comfort she was feeling.

He nuzzled his face into her soft curls, slightly more disheveled than usual after the almost full-night of running that they’d had the night before, just trying to make it to this safe house out in the middle of nowhere, “How’d you sleep?”

She smiled, “Like a baby…” she sighed and closed her eyes again, wanting to savor the comfort that she was feeling at the moment. It was rare that they ever made it to safe houses like this almost immediately after a job. Most jobs they did, especially bank robberies like the one they pulled the day before, usually left them driving for days on end trying to get someplace safe, or at the very least, trying to get the cops off of their tail. Last night, however, had been different as the cops hadn’t even bothered to put up much of a chase (which was something of a disappointment in Emma’s eyes...being chased caused half of the excitement of it all), which allowed them to get to one of their favorite hideouts in time. They’d all separated, going to the rooms they’d divided for the members of their party, Paul and Emma taking the master all to themselves, falling asleep blissfully, the knowledge that they’d lived another day to piss the authorities off acting as enough to soothe them to sleep.

She groaned as the sunlight through the white curtains aggravated her eyes. She curled into Paul, burying her face in his bare chest, “Can’t we just stay here all day?”

“We’re moving again tomorrow, Em,” Paul chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, “We’ve got work to do.”

“Do we?” she questioned, looking up at him, raising an eyebrow.

He blushed as her face melted into a flirtatious and sultry look that he was absolutely weak for. She grinned when she noticed how flushed he’d quickly become, pushing herself so that she was laying atop his chest, smiling down at him.

“Careful,” he deadpanned, “You forget how thin the walls to this house are. We don’t want Ted to walk in on us again.”

Emma groaned at the memory, “Remind me why we still keep him around?”

Paul shook his head before smiling up at her, “So we have someone to sacrifice to the cops in the event they get too close?”

“Then why haven’t we done that yet?” Emma inquired as she looked down at her husband, who merely shrugged. 

For a moment, she just sat there, looking at the fond expression on his face. One of his hands traced down to her leg, where the scar on her artificial skin remained from her incident with car battery acid, literally two days before they’d been married. Some nights he would trace his fingers gently over the scar (which was really just where she’d shoddily attempted to put herself back together), looking down at her in amazement. It wasn’t a seductive move (most of the time, anyway), rather just contemplating how he’d ended up with her. 

She smiled down at him and met his lips with her own, her hands cupping his face as his free hand found its way to her hair. She broke away slightly, her face less than an inch away from his as she smiled down at him, her voice a beautiful whisper, which seemed to make him blush even more. 

“Morning, love.”

He grinned, his voice a breathy whisper as he bit down on his lower lip.

“Morning, Em.”

She chuckled and met his lips again, more passionate this time. His hand curled into her hair, holding her closer against him as he smiled into the kiss, kissing her even deeper.

God, they’d only been married a few months, and yet, it felt as though they’d been married for lifetimes before then. It was almost as if in the short expanse of this thing that wasn’t entirely a life for her, she felt like she’d roamed  _ lifetimes  _ with this man. This man, who was avoiding cops like the plague, still came into the diner every single day for a cup of their piss-poor excuse for a caffeinated beverage. It felt as if she knew him for centuries rather than just a few short years. It was strange how fast all of that time seemed to fly by...she would have loved nothing more than to reminisce and spend the rest of her days completely and totally in love with him. 

They broke away from another deep kiss, his hands on her back as he looked up at her with complete and total admiration in his gaze.

“God,” he murmured softly, his eyes tracing over her face as if he were trying to soak in every single detail which belonged to her, “I love you.”

She smiled down at her husband. She was the luckiest woman in the world to end up with someone like him.

“I lo-”

_ BANG BANG BANG _

_ “Hey horndogs!”  _ the annoying voice of Ted practically screamed through the door, “ _ You gonna emerge any time soon?” _

Emma groaned and buried her head in Paul’s chest as the loud muttering of their annoying accomplice faded into nothingness, leaving them both suddenly very awake.

“Can we just leave him on the side of the road the next time we stop?” she asked, “Surely, he’s smart enough to make it on his own...right?”

Paul shook his head, “I don’t think the man knows his left from his right, much less the way to the nearest town…”

Emma smiled with a soft groan, pressing a quick peck to Paul’s lips before rolling off of him and out of bed. As she stood, the soft material of her black slip brushed against her legs, the garment serving as some form of nightgown as she was too tired to get a proper one, especially when they were out on the run like this. She sauntered over to the small vanity, which looked like it hadn’t been dusted in ages, where she’d left her dark green hooverette dress from the day before, turning it inside out so the black and green floral pattern was displayed, along with some strange aged lace that she hadn’t expected to like, but found somewhat endearing. In the somewhat dust reflection of the mirror, she could see Paul sit up on the bed, an adoring look in his eyes as he watched her.

“What’re you looking at?” she smiled at him, looking at him through the reflection.

He shook his head with a soft smile, “Just you...as always.”

She fought against a smile as her hand went to the chain around her neck, holding her wedding ring. She’d been so paranoid that she would lose her ring if she wore it on her finger all the time, especially in the middle of jobs, so keeping it on a small, durable chain around her neck seemed like the best option. Sometimes she’d inspect the small item, the simple but lovely green gem on the plain bronze band reminding her that she was lucky enough to be married to Paul. 

As she buttoned up her dress and tied it around her waist, Paul came up behind her and wrapped his arms gently around her, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.

“Good morning, Mrs. Matthews,” he whispered.

“Morning, Mr. Perkins,” she smiled back.

\---

“Paul, at this rate, people are going to think you’ve never stabbed anybody,” Emma commented, watching as Paul attempted another slash with the blade she’d given him, stumbling somewhat awkwardly as he held the knife outward. 

“Well…” he muttered as soon as he caught his balance, “I haven’t...”

“Yes, but they don’t know that,” Emma smiled softly as she helped him readjust his grip on the knife, “Let’s go again.”

“Emma,” he reasoned, “What are the chances we’re gonna get into a knife fight?”

“Who knows?” Emma shrugged, “I know you prefer your guns, but suppose you’re out of ammo? What are you gonna have then to defend yourself?” 

“I don’t think the police will be concerned about a pocket knife, sweetheart,” came the annoying voice of Ted, who was watching them spar as he held a liquor bottle in his hand. 

She groaned and ignored him.

Their safehouse was in the middle of nowhere, to put it simply. The land between Clivesdale and Connor’s Creek was strange in the way that it could go from hills to valleys to seemingly endless plains of golden-green grass. In some ways, Emma adored staring out into the tall grass in between their journeys, the mountains they’d try and escape into were so far out of sight that she couldn’t see them. Rather, in the endless stretch of fields, Emma found herself feeling a large sense of peace, almost as if in the small, slightly-dilapidated house in the middle of the large expanse of fields, with about two or three trees surrounding it, a mostly abandoned dirt road connecting them to a few side towns which were practically ghosts towns, they were in the eye of a storm. An unexpected sense of peace in the tumult they’d willingly walked into.

After they’d been so rudely woken up by Ted, they’d stumbled down the creaky stairs of the small house to find that most of their party had already woken up. Though they’d made plans to leave bright and early the next morning to move towards the pike mountains, not far from Connor’s Creek, they still had a lot of work to be done. It was decided that Becky and Tom would head into the next town to pick up some supplies with the small percentage of cash they intended to spend while on the run. Bill, who had the greatest math brain amongst them would count what money they’d gotten in the last job, while Ted made sure that their cars still worked right. Paul and Emma, however, would be working on their hand-to-hand combat skills. 

Paul was an excellent marksman. Hand that man a gun of any kind and there was nothing he couldn’t do with it, but while he was an amazing shooter, his combat skills were not nearly as good, and they didn’t serve him well in the event he would lose ammo, especially if they were caught in any close calls. This was where Emma came in. She was an excellent shooter as well, but her specialties lay really well in the realm of fighting with knives and switchblades, something Paul had learned after she’d started running with him. Normally when they’d run a few jobs, she would conceal two or three knives on her person and be scarily quick with them. So naturally, she took it upon herself to teach Paul to be the same way. 

“Okay,” she nodded as she took her stance across from Paul, her blade held in her hand as they paced circles around each other, “and...now.”

Paul lunged forward as she’d taught him to, his eyes trained on her. Though it had taken a while for him to be comfortable with attacking her while she taught him, he’d learned that she was fast when it came to sparring, and no matter how fast she moved, she could dodge him, using her size to her advantage.

She dove out of the way and moved to the side, facing him as she did. He lunged again and she caught his wrist in her free hand, twisting it so that his weight was used against him and the knife was dropped. Using her strength, she managed to partially flip him over so that she was leering over him, her knife against his neck as he caught his breath.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was on the ground as she smiled down at him.

“All too easy, Paul,” Emma clicked her tongue, “It’s almost as if you  _ want _ me to win.”

Paul raised a teasing eyebrow, blushing slightly as he looked up at his wife, pinning him down with the knife to his throat, “Maybe I do.”

Emma chuckled and shook her head, “I can’t fault you for that...but let’s just say anybody else with a knife to your throat won’t love you as much as I do.”

She leaned down, about to kiss him when a loud groan made her break away. She rolled her eyes as she stood up, helping Paul stand as she turned to see their annoying companion watching them.

“Gross,” Ted groaned, “Y’know I would say ‘get a room’, but when it comes to you two, it’s like the walls don’t even exist...and Paul, buddy...I’m embarrassed for you...watching you get beat by your  _ wife  _ of all people.”

Paul and Emma made eye-contact out of the corner of their eyes. Ted was the only member of their party who didn’t know what Emma really was. As far as the horny bastard knew, she was a woman of flesh and blood and bone just like any other woman he saw. The fact remained that despite Emma being one of the strongest members of their group, the seeds of misogyny, as well as his tendency to view women as objects rather than actual people, had made the man even more of an annoyance, even when he watched Emma and Paul spar. 

She tightened her grip on her own knife, “Oh? And I suppose you think you could do better?”

Ted nodded his head, taking another swig of his drink, “Yes, I suppose I do.”

Paul chuckled and shook his head, giving Emma a look of ‘ _ give him hell, honey _ ’ before holding his knife out to Ted, “You want to try?” 

Ted raised an eyebrow, “What?” 

“Prove it,” Emma challenged, tightening her grip on her knife as she grinned at Paul, “You think you could do better? Come and prove it.”

Ted looked unsure as Paul handed him his knife.

“Oh, what is it, then?” Emma taunted the man, “You afraid you’re gonna get beaten by a woman?” 

Ted snarled, rolling his eyes, “Fine...but don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

“Your warning wasn’t warranted,” Emma muttered as Ted moved to stand opposite her.

She glanced at Paul, who was leaning against the tree, smiling at her as he did. He looked like he was excited to watch her kick Ted’s ass. Hell, if she did, she’d probably saw off half of the man’s ugly-ass mustache just to prove a point and make sure he knew to stay out of their business. The man’s pride would never recover from that.

“And…” she spoke clearly, signaling to Ted that their match would soon begin, “N-”

_ “Tom and Becky are back!” _

Bill’s voice snapped Emma and Ted out of their fighting stances as he came running up to their place by the tree. Emma sighed as Ted dropped his knife carelessly onto the ground.

Bill came running back up, his eyes wide with a small smile, “They’ve brought food, and updated maps, which should be enough to help us with tomorrow.”

They all glanced back to the house, where the green Ford they’d stolen the night before had just parked beside it. They could see the somewhat blurry forms of Tom and Becky unloading baskets of whatever food and supplies they’d managed to score while in the small nearby town.

“Thank God,” Ted groaned, starting to saunter back to the house, “I’m starving.”

Emma rolled her eyes at the man’s complaining as she knelt down to pick up the knife he’d dropped. Paul moved over to her, taking the knives gently from her.

“He’s lucky Bill stepped in when he did,” Paul whispered to her, smirking as he helped her gather up what stuff they’d brought out for their training, “I thought you would have actually killed him.”

“I might have,” Emma smiled, “Or just given him the closest shave he’s ever known...I’d be doing the whole world a favor in that regard.”

“Amen to that,” Bill chimed in, walking over to them with a kind smile on his face, “Did he actually do anything productive today?” 

“Has he ever?” Paul sighed, “If he wasn’t such a good getaway driver or at picking locks, I would have never let him tag along.”

Bill nodded, “But he is...so we have to keep him around...although I could do without him being my roommate while we’re here.”

Emma sighed and nodded, “Yeah...but you only have to endure that for one more night, Bill...the cabin we’re headed to has more than enough space.”

Bill shook his head, “I sure hope so, I could do without his snoring for the rest of my life.”

Paul clapped his friend on the back, “We only admire you more for your sacrifice, Bill. You truly take one for the team when it comes to him.”

Bill rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I guess. I just hope you’ll remember that on the next job.”

“We will,” Paul grinned, wrapping his arm around Emma’s shoulders as they started to walk back to the house, “How about some lunch?”

\---

“If we leave around six tomorrow morning,” Becky was saying as she stacked her and Tom’s plates, “We should make it to Henry’s place by eight o’clock tomorrow afternoon, then we can be at the cabin by noon the next day.”

Emma nodded and took a bite of her sandwich, “How long would it take for us to get to the cabin if we didn’t stop at Henry’s?”

“We’d get to the cabin around three in the morning rather than noon,” Becky responded, wiping her mouth daintily with a napkin, “But Henry wrote in his last letter that he had some more supplies for us, so we don’t want to miss this opportunity...not again.”

“I agree,” Paul nodded, “Besides, it would be nice to see Henry again...it’s been a while.”

“Ol’ Hidge…” Ted mused, “Isn’t that the guy who married y’all?”

Emma nodded, smiling at the memory of that peaceful day. That wonderful, perfect day when it had just been her and Paul...and a man who was a perfect stranger. It was strange to believe that Henry had become one of their closest allies after that. It was strange that they’d found a man who was hiding from the police as they had been. All of it had been a wonderful stroke of luck which had led to her and Paul being married and she was grateful for it.

“I still can’t believe you got married without us being there,” Tom grumbled, finishing his own sandwich, “I would have liked to be the best man...give a clever speech or somethin’ like that.”

Emma shrugged, “Sorry, Tom. We had the chance and we took it.”

“And we’re very glad that you did,” Bill smiled, “Honestly, I thought it would never happen with as much time as Paul spent thinking about it.”

Emma smiled as Paul blushed again, his hand touching her own. 

It surprised her how often they could find moments of peace while they were still running from the law. Though their life was filled with a great deal of pain and tumult, they still managed to find moments of peace with the people they cared about, which was more than enough for her. 

Since the weather was so nice, they’d opted to have a picnic just outside of the house, eating some sandwiches they’d all made for themselves while enjoying the odd combination of a cool breeze and bright sunshine, all of them sitting among the tall grass in the midday light. 

Ted suddenly made a loud whining noise from where he sat, staring down at the paper from the day.

“What is it?” Bill asked, raising an eyebrow and sounding mildly annoyed.

“They don’t even mention my name in this!” Ted exclaimed, holding up the headlines for all of them to see.

_ MARRIED MURDERERS CAUSE MADNESS AT CLIVESDALE BANK!! _

“Let me see that,” Emma muttered, tugging the paper away from Ted as she looked at the fine print below the large letters, “Ted, it says ‘Ted Spankoffski’ right here...or did you forget how to read?”

“No…” Ted whined, looking like a toddler in the midst of a tantrum, “It doesn’t use my bandit name!!”

Tom raised an eyebrow, “Bandit name? Ted...you can’t be serious.”

“They call Bill ‘Wild Woodward’,” Ted complained, “Would ‘Time Bastard Ted’ be too much for the papers to print?”

“Time Bastard Ted?” Becky giggled, “You realize how strange that sounds?”

“It’s an excellent name!” Ted defended himself, his mouth still full of food, “And Paul and Emma, despite having the most  _ generic  _ names in existence get more credit.”

“Well...they are the primary brains of the operation,” Bill reasoned, “They do the most work…”

Ted rolled his eyes, “They don’t even have faces to go with our names. They don’t have any pictures of Emma...or me...or hell, even Bill or Becky. They just have Paul’s mugshot from over five years ago...with most of the picture faded out, and pictures of Tom before he had a beard.” 

Emma glanced down at the pictures and saw that he was correct. The pictures were shoddily printed onto the paper, with only a quarter of Paul’s face being visible, and Tom’s picture looking more like an odd family photograph from when he was much younger. It was funny that the faces they had to go with their names were unfamiliar. In some ways, the names that had become household invocations of terror were matched with fantastical depictions of it.

“Why don’t we change that?” Bill suggested, his eyes brightening as if an idea had just popped into his head.

Ted chuckled and raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“That camera we nabbed a few days ago,” Bill explained, “Why don’t we put it to good use? Give them some good evidence to remember us all by when we’re gone?”

“That’s a good idea!” Becky chirped excitedly, “Then we could have pictures to send to our folks or to Alice back in Clivesdale!”

Emma looked at Paul who smiled softly, “How do you feel about that, Em?”

She shook her head, “Why the hell not?”

With that, Tom jumped up, grabbing the stack of plates from everyone, “I’ll take these and grab it, in the meantime, Ted, would you make yourself useful for once and help me?”

Ted made another whining noise before conceding and helping others fold up the picnic blanket. 

A few moments later, Tom emerged from the house carrying an old Kodak box camera. It had been something Emma had nabbed just for kicks when they’d robbed a department store a few weeks before. She’d always wanted a camera, to capture lovely images of the mountains and fields they’d often drive through, but as they’d been on the run, she’d not found much time to take pictures. Now seemed like a perfect time for it, as she would have loved to at least have one photograph of her and Paul. 

“Okay,” Tom held up the camera, “Who wants to go first?”

Ted raised his hand obnoxiously, pulling on a fedora at a dramatic angle as he retrieved one of the long-barrelled shotguns from where they’d been leaning against the house while Bill was taking inventory, “Me!” 

Tom rolled his eyes before passing the camera to Bill, not wanting to deal with Ted’s bullshit as of right now, “You take care of this, you’re better with a camera than me anyhow.”

Bill sighed and started to prep the camera as Ted struck several different poses in front of him, “Make sure you get my good side, Woodward,” Ted was saying, “Make sure I look like the debonair, dastardly criminal I am.”

“Ted,” Bill sighed, “A photograph like that would be as fictitious as the name ‘Time Bastard’.”

Ted’s face flushed with anger as he positioned himself the right way, “Just get the damned shot, Woodward.”

A few moments passed before Ted’s photograph was taken. He was positioning himself for another dramatic shot before Tom interceded. 

“Alright, now that that’s over with,” Tom sighed, waving Ted off as he gently took Becky’s hand in his own, “Could you get one or two of me and Beck?”

Bill smiled, happy to have a much more amicable subject, “Of course!”

Emma smiled and leaned into Paul’s warmth, her head in Paul’s lap as his fingers ran gently through her hair as they watched Tom lean in and press a kiss to Becky’s cheek in a soft, candid shot. 

Jane would be happy for them, she knew. 

Jane had been killed in a car accident before she could marry Tom and fulfill the life that she’d wanted to live shortly after Emma had come to Hatchetfield. Though Emma was not by any means the original Emma, she had some idea of what her life with Jane before the real Emma had died had been like. When she’d come to Hatchetfield, Jane had believed her to be her missing sister returned from God-only-knew-where. She’d welcomed Emma back with open arms and suddenly Emma had found herself with a sister. An  _ engaged  _ sister, for that matter. She and Tom were supposed to be married within the next few months and Emma found herself being a part of a wedding. She found herself being a part of a family she’d not known she’d had. 

Then Jane had been killed. 

It had been only a few weeks after Emma had come back to Hatchetfield, when she and Tom were alerted to the fact that Jane had been in an automobile accident, dying mere moments away from the nearest hospital. 

Emma hadn’t known what to feel. In some ways she found herself mourning for a sister that wasn’t even hers. She’d stood there with Tom at Jane’s funeral mourning a woman she’d known for only a few weeks and yet...she felt the full force of her grief as if she’d been hit by a train. 

That was the first  _ real  _ pain she’d ever felt. 

When Becky had joined their party, over two years since Jane died, Emma had been wary. She’d not liked the idea of an old flame in Tom’s life re-entering it out of respect for her dead sister, but as time went on, she could see how the redhead, who was running from the law for supposedly murdering her husband (which, given Becky’s sporadic accounts of her life with the man, Emma didn’t view as a complete and total crime), brought out Tom’s softer side. In some ways, she felt like they were an even match. Though it had taken a while for her to get used to the woman’s presence, she felt as though Becky was a lovely addition to their team. 

She watched as Bill snapped two or three shots of Tom and Becky sitting side by side, the two of them smiling like they weren’t the ‘dangerous criminals’ every paper in the country claimed they were. Rather, they were a normal couple. A normal couple enjoying a pleasant afternoon and taking wonderful pictures with one another. It seemed as if all the chaos they’d stepped into seemed to fade away. 

After Bill finished capturing a few images of Tom and Becky, Tom’s face contorted in an excited grin. He gestured to take the camera from Bill, “Your turn.”

“Me?” Bill looked confused, “What do you want a picture of me for?”

“We can send it to Alice, Bill,” Becky smiled, “Please, Bill, just one…”

Bill looked unsure for a moment, before smiling softly to himself and handing the camera to Tom, “Okay…”

He leaned up against the house and flashed Tom a bright smile, making Emma smile in turn. It wasn’t fair that Bill had the loveliest smile out of the bunch. He truly was a burst of sunshine amidst the paranoia and chaos they’d stepped into.

Emma knew that crime wasn’t something he’d wanted to get into. 

He had a daughter. A little girl whose mother abandoned her and Bill as she ran off with another man. Soon, bills began to pile up, and feeding his daughter had become something of a difficulty. He’d started out stealing food, and managing not to get caught, but when it came to money, he knew something bigger was needed. Around the time that Paul and Tom had started to run jobs, they met up with him and he quickly became one of their greatest allies, helping them pull jobs successfully and being able to feed Alice as she got older. 

Then Alice’s mother had come back into the picture and taken Alice with her to Clivesdale, around the time that they’d all started to run together. 

Bill rarely got to see Alice, but he’d told them several times that he wouldn’t take back the choices he made. Alice was still alive thanks to the choices he’d made and the jobs he’d pulled with them...and in some ways, even if he knew he could never go back to the life he’d originally had, he was grateful for that. In some ways, even after he’d started permanently running with them, he’d been a parent to them all, making sure everyone was taken care of and that wounds were tended to. No matter how crazy most of their party (predominantly Ted) drove him, he was always their mother hen and he was a wonderful addition to their group.

He smiled for the camera as Tom took a few more candid shots, posing for the camera with his own gun, looking like some action hero from the moving pictures.

She looked up at Paul, who was watching his friend with a soft smile, his hands still running through her hair as they watched Tom have fun with the camera. 

She reached up and cupped his cheek, the tips of her fingers teasing at the short hair around his temples as she looked up at him. He smiled down at her.

“We have it real good, Em,” he murmured.

She smiled and nodded, “Hell yeah, we do…”

His eyes softened for a moment, “Do...do you ever wish you could take it back…”

She raised an eyebrow, “What? Take what back?”

Paul’s face fell slightly as he intertwined his fingers with her, “Do you ever wish you could have just had a normal life...not having to be on the run all the time?”

“You mean a boring life?” Emma asked, picking up on the real meaning behind his question.

_ Do you ever wish you’d never chosen to run with me? _

Paul nodded slightly, his eyes filled with some kind of melancholy reflection, “Yeah...something like that.”

She chuckled lightly under her breath, squeezing his hand in her own, “Paul…”

“I don’t know, Em,” He murmured, shaking his head as he looked deep in thought, “I just wish you didn’t feel like you had to run with me-”

“And then what?” she asked him, smiling softly, “I’d just be stuck at Beanies serving coffee for the rest of my days?”

He said nothing as she sat up and took his hands in her own, looking down somewhat guiltily.

“Paul,” she began, cupping his jaw gently and leaning her forehead against his, “There’s no way in hell that I’d trade  _ this  _ for a life like that…”

He met her eyes slowly, the blue of his own eyes seemingly boring into her soul.

“Jane was the person who would have wanted that kind of life,” she went on, “She wanted the white picket fence...the peaceful dreams...the good, honest living...but not me. Hell, I never saw myself marrying. I never saw myself doing anything that I would be happy doing...until I met you.”

A small smile teased at the corner of his lips as he looked at her. She chuckled and went on.

“If you think, for even a second, that I would trade this life for that kind of life,” she smiled, gently running the pad of her thumb over his soft cheek, taking note of some stubble he’d probably have to shave later on, “Then you’re a damned fool, Paul Perkins. The life I had before this wasn’t a life. All I was doin’ was breathing in dusty air day after day after day...this…” she gestured to the safehouse, to their friends who were laughing as Bill struck a few silly poses, to the array of guns and three stolen cars against the side of the house, “ _ This is living... _ and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.”

He closed his eyes with a soft smile, “For sure?”

She smiled wider and pressed a kiss to his forehead, “It’s you and me, baby... against the world.”

He chuckled and nodded, “Forever and always.”

“Yeah,” she whispered, closing her eyes as she leaned her forehead against his, “Forever and always.”

Every single word of what she said was the honest-to-God truth for her. She’d never wanted a life where she’d be stuck in one place, always fearing that she’d die in mundanity. Serving up coffee in that dingy little diner had seemed like it was something of a death sentence.

Then Paul had stumbled into her life.

At first, she’d thought he was the essence of mundanity...but he’d proven to be anything but.

He’d given her a gift that she wasn’t sure anybody else in the world could have given her. 

And that was a real life.

Though she technically wasn’t alive, or a real human, he made her feel like every beat of her artificial heart was worth something. That every breath she took in with the fake lungs in her chest wasn’t just to mimic what life looked like. That her mannerisms and thoughts were not just a result of someone else’s code. Her thoughts, her choices, her life, and her love for him? That was all hers. And she truly felt that way thanks to him. 

He made her feel like she was truly a human being.

That she truly had a life of her own that wasn’t some conjuring of a shady company who operated in the shadows.

Somehow, they’d found their way to one another, and she felt like she never wanted to fall out of his life. 

She smiled at him, just admiring the fact that  _ this _ was her husband. 

This was the man she wanted to spend every single day of her life with and never be parted from. 

They even had a pair of rings to prove it.

Running with him had been the best choice of her life.

With him, she was free.

With him, she was home.

“Your turn!” Tom called to them, snapping them out of the brief sense of heaven they both felt as they held one another. He passed the camera to Bill again, as he was the better photographer out of the two of them.

Paul smiled at her and stood, pulling her up and wrapping an arm around her as they moved in front of the camera, their fingers intertwined as they leaned into one another’s touch.

“Okay,” Bill smiled, most of his face concealed by the bulky instrument as he stood before them, “Three...two…”

Just before Bill said ‘one’. Emma gripped Paul’s hand and turned him over so she could dip him in her arms, using her strength to hold his weight as she caught him, holding him close and meeting his lips in an insistent kiss. 

His eyes widened in shock at the sudden change in position, but he quickly relaxed, his hands holding her close as he reciprocated the kiss.

_ FLASH! _

The picture was taken with a flash of light. 

And it was their favorite.

A testimony to the love shared between two of the most notorious criminals in the midwest. 

A kiss that would be forever captured in shades of sepia. 

A love that would be remembered as both infamous and eternal.

Paul Perkins and Emma Matthews.

The most dangerous couple in the midwest.

Forever and always running together.

Never looking back.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I've gotten this across, but I am in love with Droid23. I mean...they're not Paulkins, but that's also the beauty of it!! Even if they're more murderous, I still love them.
> 
> Please leave comments and/or kudos as I would love to know what you think!! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! I really hope you enjoyed this work and hope you have a fantastic end of your weekend!!!
> 
> Please stay safe and healthy, as well as keep the safety of others in mind (regardless of whether or not your state- like mine- decides to lift the mask mandate)
> 
> My Tumblr:@ShhImAvoidingSleep


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